Combination surgical instrument table and sterilizer basket

ABSTRACT

A sterilizer basket for surgical instruments which can be set up as an instrument table, with all the sterilized instruments on trays, ready for use and accessible, thus eliminating the present requirement of removing instruments from a sterilizing unit and laying them out on another table top. The invention consists of a series of perforated trays which are linked together by extendable arms so that all trays are accessible in the open condition, together with a bale for clamping the unit to the top of a stand, and for securing a sterile drape around the stand. The necessary basins are clipped to the side of the unit during sterilization.

United States Patent 11 1 Fishpaw I I COMBINATION SURGICAL INSTRUMENTTABLE AND STERILIZER BASKET Inventor: Bernice N. Fishpaw, Deland, Fla.

Filed: Dec. 21, 1971 Appl. No.: 210,393

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 6 1950 Lewis 21/83 10 1972 8/19638 1969 1/1933 Shriver 21/2 /2 waw awe.

[ Oct. 30, 1973 2,088,812 8/1937 Reichenbach 248/226 PrimaryExaminer-Morris O. Wolk Assistant Examiner-Dale LovercheckAttorneylloward l. Podell [57] ABSTRACT A sterilizer basket for surgicalinstruments which can be set up as an instrument table, with all thesterilized instruments on trays, ready for use and accessible, thuseliminating the present requirement of removing instruments from asterilizing unit and laying them out on another table top. The inventionconsists of a series of perforated trays which are linked together byextendable arms so that all trays are accessible in the open condition,together with a bale for clamping the unit to the top of a stand, andfor securing a sterile drape around the stand. The necessary basins areclipped to the side of the unit during sterilization.

4 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures lll COMBINATION SURGICAL INSTRUMENT TABLEAND STERILIZER BASKET SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION My invention is anapparatus designed to be used as a sterilizer basket for surgicalinstruments, with the instruments contained ready for use in anaccessible manner, thus eliminating the conventional requirement ofsterilizing the instruments in one piece of apparatus and thenrelocating said instruments on another table prior to use.

Perforated trays for containing the instruments are mounted onextendable arms and the apparatus includes a pivotable bale which clampsthe unit to a stand, and secures sterile drapes around the stand when inthe operating mode.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The objects and features of myinvention may be understood with reference to the following detaileddescription of an illustrative embodiment of the invention takentogether with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the apparatus in the closed condition;

FIG. 2 is a perspective front view of the apparatus being installed on astand;

FIG. 2A is a perspective side view of the apparatus being installed on astand;

FIG. 3 is a perspective side view of the apparatus fastened to a standin the partially opened position;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view from above of the apparatus with all traysopened and fastened to the stand; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view of the perforated tray structure.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Turning now descriptively to thedrawings, in which similar reference characters denote similar elementsthroughout the several views, FIG. 1 illustrates the basic apparatus inthe compact folded condition consisting of several perforated instrumenttrays 10, 30 and 31, with mounted clips 12 for suture materials. In thiscompact condition, the entire apparatus with instruments may be placedin a sterilizer prior to use. In the preferred practice, the apparatusis wrapped with layers of cloth 20 prior to and during sterilization,and as shown in FIG. 2, the sterilized cloth 20 is unfolded and drapedover the instrument stand 22 which is supported by legs 21 located overthe patient adjacent to the operating area. In this manner, theapparatus and the instruments are maintained in a secure sterilecondition prior to and during use. The apparatus is fastened to thestand 22, and the underlying layers of sterilized cloth 20, by pivotablebale 15 which is free to rotate under the stand. Bale 15 has extendablearms 17 which pivot or slide about grips 18. Bale 15 slides in groove 41of frame 31 as shown in FIG. 2 to fold out of the way, when notrequired. The fixed arm 16 and the extendable arms 17 serve to fastenthe sterile cloth layers 20 under the stand 22, to maintain a sterilefield.

The tray 30 for containing instruments is mounted on the end to pairs ofparallel pivotable extension arms 11 so that the tray 30 may be raisedand seated in a horizontal plane above base 31 or tray holder 45.Additional instrument trays containing specialized instruments such astray 32 may be added in tray holder 45 which rests on base frame 31 andis moved in or out on runners 33. The trays contain perforations 39 topermit the necessary steam flow during the sterilization phase.

In the preferred embodiment as shown in FIG. 4, the upper opened tray 10would be the suture tray, tray 30 would contain the basic instruments,and tray 32 might be for the retractor instruments. Additionalspecialized instrument trays such as tray 32 could be added asnecessary. Racks 30A and 34 may be mounted on trays to hold specificinstruments. At each end of frame 31 is a horizontal shelf 42 with holes43 to secure containers of solutions required during the operation andfor sterile loading books when used without muslin wrapper. Rectangularbasins 19, clip over this shelf 41 when the unit is in the folded stateso that these basins may also be sterilized with the apparatus.

While the instrument trays of the preferred embodiment are made of metalsuch as aluminum or stainless steel, it is contemplated that such traysmay be coated with a heat resistant plastic so as to reduce noise andclatter.

Additional clips 44 may be mounted on the apparatus to hold necessarytubing or electrical cords.

Since many obvious changes may be made in the specific embodiment of theinvention described herein without departing from the scope thereof, itis indicated that all matter contained herein is intended to beinterpreted in an illustrative and not a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. A sterilizer basket apparatus for containing surgical instrumenttrays which can be set up as an instrument table, consisting of severalperforated trays each linked to the adjacent tray by a pair of pivotableequal length arms, with the lowermost tray linked to the frame below, bya pair of said pivotable equal length arms, so that the plane of thetrays remain parallel to the plane of the frame regardless of whetherall trays rest on each other in the compact configuration, or whetherany of the trays are located above and to the side of the trays or framebelow, with a shaped wire member fitted to slide in grooves in each sideof the frame, said wire member being so bent as to clamp the apparatusto the stand upon which the apparatus rests when the wire member isrotated below the top of said stand so as to grip the underside surfaceof said stand top.

2. A sterilizer basket apparatus for containing surgical instruments asdescribed in claim 1 in which said wire member has extendable arms whichunfold so as to draw any covering material hanging from the sides of thestand, underneath the stand top, when the wire member clamps theunderside surface of the stand top.

3. A sterilizer basket apparatus for containing surgical instruments asdescribed in claim 2 in which as many as 4 additional trays may beplaced between the mounted trays.

4. A sterilizer basket apparatus for containing surgi-' cal instrumenttrays as described in claim 3 which contains fittings to fastenrectangular basins to said apparatus, said basins being mounted by saidfittings so as to

1. A sterilizer basket apparatus for containing surgical instrumenttrays which can be set up as an instrument table, consisting of severalperforated trays each linked to the adjacent tray by a pair of pivotableequal length arms, with the lowermost tray linked to the frame below, bya pair of said pivotable equal length arms, so that the plane of thetrays remain parallel to the plane of the frame regardless of whetherall trays rest on each other in the compact configuration, or whetherany of the trays are located above and to the side of the trays or framebelow, with a shaped wire member fitted to slide in grooves in each sideof the frame, said wire member being so bent as to clamp the apparatusto the stand upon which the apparatus rests when the wire member isrotated below the top of said stand so as to grip the underside surfaceof said stand top.
 2. A sterilizer basket apparatus for containingsurgical instruments as described in claim 1 in which said wire memberhas extendable arms which unfold so as to draw any covering materialhanging from the sides of the stand, underneath the stand top, when thewire member clamps the underside surface of the stand top.
 3. Asterilizer basket apparatus for containing surgical instruments asdescribed in claim 2 in which as many as 4 additional trays may beplaced between the mounted trays.
 4. A sterilizer basket apparatus forcontaining surgical instrument trays as described in claim 3 whichcontains fittings to fasten rectangular basins to said apparatus, saidbasins being mounted by said fittings so as to receive steam flow duringthe sterilization phase.